Public money in question for private Roosevelt library

Blake Nicholson, Associated Press

Updated
10:31 am EST, Sunday, January 13, 2019

FILE - This July 5, 2018, file photo, shoes eroded hills in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. Construction of a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora would elevate North Dakota's reputation around the globe, Gov. Doug Burgum said Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019, in pitching to state lawmakers the idea of using $50 million in state money for the project. The foundation working to develop a presidential library envisions a $200 million facility in Medora, at the entrance to the park. less

FILE - This July 5, 2018, file photo, shoes eroded hills in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. Construction of a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora would elevate North ... more

Photo: Blake Nicholson, AP

Photo: Blake Nicholson, AP

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FILE - This July 5, 2018, file photo, shoes eroded hills in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. Construction of a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora would elevate North Dakota's reputation around the globe, Gov. Doug Burgum said Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019, in pitching to state lawmakers the idea of using $50 million in state money for the project. The foundation working to develop a presidential library envisions a $200 million facility in Medora, at the entrance to the park. less

FILE - This July 5, 2018, file photo, shoes eroded hills in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. Construction of a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora would elevate North ... more

Photo: Blake Nicholson, AP

Public money in question for private Roosevelt library

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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Six years after the North Dakota Legislature pledged $12 million to help develop a Theodore Roosevelt presidential library that never materialized, lawmakers are being asked for more than four times that amount for a revamped project.

The success of Gov. Doug Burgum's proposal to meld public and private money into a $150 million funding package might well rest on which side is willing to pony up first. The foundation behind the library effort wants the state money to jump-start private fundraising, but some lawmakers would like to see some private donor commitments before dedicating any public money — leading to "chicken or the egg" discussions at the Capitol.

"It does take a leap of faith from both sides," said Rep. Mike Nathe, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Burgum has proposed pledging $50 million in interest money from an oil tax-funded reserve account known as the Legacy Fund for the library that the private foundation is trying to develop in western North Dakota's rugged badlands, an area in which Roosevelt ranched and hunted and which he said prepared him to be the nation's 26th president. His four years on a ranch when he was in his 20s ingrained in him the value of hard work, deepened his love for nature and made him a champion of wildlife conservation.

"He took those ideals with him to the White House," great-great-grandson Theodore Roosevelt V said.

Under Burgum's proposal, state money would have to be matched by $100 million in private fundraising. But so far, both the foundation and members of the Roosevelt family have only hinted at the existence of potential major donors, saying it is up to them to decide whether they want to come forward publicly.

That gives some lawmakers pause.

"If these donors aren't stepping forward, then there are other projects that are waiting" for Legacy Fund money, said Dickinson Rep. Vicky Steiner, who served as treasurer on the library foundation board before quitting last year in part because of a decision to change the library concept.

Presidential libraries are something of a modern phenomenon. The National Archives administers 14, starting with Herbert Hoover. By law, libraries for presidents before him have to be built without federal support. Roosevelt's birthplace and primary adult residence in New York are national historic sites, but an effort about a decade ago to establish a library there failed.

North Dakota lawmakers in 2013 pledged $12 million for a Roosevelt library project based at Dickinson State University in Dickinson — which is digitizing tens of thousands of Roosevelt's papers — with the restriction that construction must begin by the end of 2018. It didn't. The foundation last May scrapped plans to build a library on university land and a museum about a half hour's drive away in Medora, a tourist town on the doorstep of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the state's top tourist attraction.

The foundation instead voted to put the entire project in Medora — a site it said was more palatable to potential major donors — and returned $9.8 million to the state.

The decision angered some lawmakers including Steiner and Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, who also is from Dickinson and also has resigned from the foundation board, though for an unrelated reason.

Wardner questions the level of support for Burgum's proposal in the Legislature, in large part due to the lack of progress on the project since the state first pledged money six years ago.

"Some (lawmakers) are still wondering why the $12 million that was appropriated three biennia ago was never utilized," he said. "Nothing ever happened for six years. There's going to be some skeptics there. Some are going to think this isn't going to happen — it's pie-in-the-sky thinking."

Foundation CEO Mike Eggl said the group has made much progress in the past year, much of it behind the scenes.

It added a second Roosevelt family member and philanthropist Melani Walton, who is married to a son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, to its board, which has Roosevelt enthusiasts from around the country. The federal Interior Department is studying whether a library outside the entrance to the national park could be complemented with a federal project to upgrade the park's entrance and visitor center. Results are expected this spring unless the federal government shutdown is prolonged. The foundation also hopes within weeks to have preliminary results from a North Dakota State University study on the potential economic benefits of a library in Medora.

The idea of a Roosevelt library in North Dakota also has been endorsed by the National Park Foundation, the Boone and Crockett Club hunting and habitat conservation group founded by Roosevelt, and the New York-based Theodore Roosevelt Association, formed by Congress in 1920 to perpetuate Roosevelt's legacy.

Association CEO Tweed Roosevelt, Theodore's great-grandson, said the project's move to Medora was a big factor in that group deciding to send a letter of support. However, he said it still has reservations about the remote location in southwest North Dakota and its ability to draw a large number of tourists.

"I think it's really important that they have an adequate endowment," he said.

Rep. David Monson, chairman of a House Appropriations subcommittee, also has questioned if the state might get stuck with upkeep and operational expenses down the line.

The foundation envisions a $200 million project, with $100 million for construction, $20 million for exhibits and an $80 million endowment for operations, according to Eggl. The library also would charge an entrance fee.

"The state will be at zero risk," he said.

The debate goes further than whether the state should kick in money. Steiner said that if that is to happen, she would like to see restrictions on how it is spent.

"Until those safeguards were in place I wouldn't be comfortable having a board with people coming from different parts of the country, yet North Dakota's money, $50 million, is in play," she said. "As a state legislator, I am reluctant to give the board that level of money and not have any control or say."

Wardner said an amount less than $50 million might have a better chance of gaining lawmaker approval.

Eggl said a lesser amount from the state might diminish the level of private donations. He and Burgum also have alluded to groups in other states they say have expressed interest in pursuing a library should North Dakota not back one, but neither has offered specifics.

"North Dakota is the right place to do this," Eggl said. "When you look at what Teddy Roosevelt said about North Dakota — it wasn't a sales pitch at that point. He fell in love with this place, and it changed him."

Burgum is bringing two members of the Roosevelt family and Melani Walton and her husband to Bismarck later this month to meet with lawmakers.